JE Pistons NMRA/NMCA West Coast Shootout - Right — And Fun — The First Time

The Inaugural JE Pistons NMRA/NMCA West Coast Shootout

Before we begin, we want to make sure that we get the name of this event perfectly correct: the Inaugural JE Pistons NMRA/NMCA West Coast Shootout presented by Lucas Oil. Why all the worry about making a proper introduction? That’s easy—in bringing the NMRA/NMCA act to the Left Coast for the first time, the efforts of the sanctioning bodies and sponsoring companies combined to produce a great event period, no debate. It was a load of fun, an extravaganza with something for everyone—well, there were no open laps on the Auto Club Speedway oval, but short of that, there’s not much more a gearhead could have asked for.

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Right off the bat, the NMRA and NMCA had almost all of their race classes running. We say almost because Pro Street and Outlaw 10.5 classes had to sit out because of ongoing noise restriction issues at Auto Club Dragway. That left, however, plenty of other ways to tip down the straight line, including the Nitto Tire West Coast Shootout, the Mickey Thompson Xtreme Drag Radial and Wild Street classes, the Centerforce Hot Street class, the Ford Racing Mustang Madness class (for those who swing that way), and three bracket classes in place. Just that added up to a full two days, but believe us, there was much more going on. (You can find race results for the NMRA/NMCA slate at www.nmradigital.com or www.nmcadigital.com).

The premier event of the weekend, held on Saturday, was the Racers Against Street Racing (RASR) True Street Challenge present by Tremec, Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords magazine, and Nitto Tire. Tremec True Street is one of the organization’s most popular classes. Even so, it made it even bigger for this initial West Coast running by including a class for the many West Coast–based magazine staffers, and another manufacturer class, all in an effort to promote the event, as well as a cause: RASR (www.rasr.org). Take racing off the street and put it on the track (where it belongs), is their motto, and that’s what the True Street participants did.

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The idea? Any street-legal cars had to complete a 15- to 20-mile cruise (we heard this one was more like 30), which in this case happened primarily on the Cal Speedway ovals … not a bad way to go. Once complete, the participants pulled directly into special staging lanes (right in front of the spectator grandstands) and had to complete three back-to-back quarter-mile passes. The fastest average time won. Several NHRA Wallys were on the line, we’ll tell you that, but multiple plaques were given out for time classes—along with lots of goodies—take it from us that the manufacturers were generous. Doesn’t sound so hard to some of you? Well, here are the facts, or at least as close as we could get to them. Forty-three cars lined up to start the event; 15 did not finish, and three more were disqualified for receiving outside assistance (once the event started, only the driver could touch the car—even a push from a friend got you booted). In short, the event was a tough challenge that lived up to its True Street name.

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Even then, that’s not all that was going on. Hotchkis Sport Suspension came through in magnificent style for those who like to turn their cars a bit, sponsoring a weekend-long autocross event that did a brisk business both days of the weekend. The competition was close, we’d say even cutthroat, but the H-crew brought along plenty of extra helmets, and rides were available all weekend long. Along with that was the Baer Brakes Speed-Stop Challenge that presented quite the challenge by requiring participants to go from a dead stop to as fast as they dared before stopping 600 feet down the road within a 20x40-foot stop box—without taking out any cones, which is always easier said than done.

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JE Pistons NMRA/NMCA West Coast Shootout - Right — And Fun — The First Time

When all was said and done, Mike Nordahl of Rancho Cucamonga, California, and his ’64 Nova were proclaimed King of the RASR True Street Challenge, and we mean that quite literally. Nordahl and his ’box silenced any naysayers, putting in an active day at Friday’s test and tune, handily completed 11 laps on the California Speedway oval, and made the required three back-to-back quarter-mile passes look easy, averaging 10.258 seconds per run. As if that wasn’t enough, Nordahl was also runner-up in the Nitto Tire West Coast Shootout. Plan on seeing a feature on this overachiever in an upcoming issue of CHP.

Long Beach, California’s Jacorie Gray also proved his mettle in his ’72 Vega, completing the True Street regimen and averaging 11.813 seconds for his three runs to take home the prize as 11-second winner, which he is seen here receiving from NMCA president Steve Wolcott and True Street Coordinator Damon Rivetti.

Camaro Performers’ Tech Editor Steven Rupp and his ’68 Bad Penny Camaro achieved quite the prize, running the gamut to average 11.589 seconds through his three runs, conquering a hearty field of media and manufacturer True Street representatives to win a genuine NHRA Wally, sponsored by Chevy High Performance; Rupp also earned the “Turn and Burn” award, which honored the driver with the best combined quarter-mile and autocross time. Kudos, Rupp.

Car Craft Associate Editor John McGann did pretty well for himself, grabbing the runner-up spot in the media class, driving Jeff Smith’s ’66 Chevelle. Given that McGann weighs half as much as Smith, the two figured the Chevelle would post its fastest times. And it did, averaging 11.789 through its three quarter-mile runs.

Our friend Will Baty of Centerforce Clutches also took home some new decorations for his trophy case. Baty averaged 12.160 seconds over his three runs to take home an NHRA Wally award as fastest manufacturer entrant—his average was also good enough to make him the 12-second winner in media/manufacturer class. Baty looks very pleased with himself as NMRA’s Steve Wolcott, Hot Rod’s Rob Kinnan (who sponsored the Wally), and Damon Rivetti presented the awards.

Our friend Will Baty of Centerforce Clutches also took home some new decorations for his trophy case. Baty averaged 12.160 seconds over his three runs to take home an NHRA Wally award as fastest manufacturer entrant—his average was also good enough to make him the 12-second winner in media/manufacturer class. Baty looks very pleased with himself as NMRA’s Steve Wolcott, Hot Rod’s Rob Kinnan (who sponsored the Wally), and Damon Rivetti presented the awards.

It was just another picture when we took it, but Lynwood, California’s Mike Cardenas and this ’73 Vega ended up as the 12-second runner-up in Tremec True Street, while his opponent in the far lane Los Angeles’ Paul William, piloted his ’72 Nova to the second spot in the 11-second class.

We’re quite certain that the EPA would have something to say about the “True Street” status of Rick Fletes’ Duramax diesel–powered ’70 Chevelle. Fletes put on quite the crowd-pleasing smoky show, but in the end was DQ’d.

The Tremec True Street Challenge brought many strange pairs together: Here, Robert Vogel’s fifth-gen Camaro averaged 12s across the board—his elderly opponent (we mean the ’65 Nova, not its driver, Robert Alcala) was runner-up in the 14-second class.

Deanna Marengo was an autocross warrior in her ’71 Camaro. She not only managed to hold off some extremely close competitors to win the Muscle Machine class each day, but also missed beating the fastest Modern Muscle machine (a brand-F GT) by mere hundredths of a second on Sunday. This car/woman combo straight out hauls; ’nuff said.

Another hard-core autocross effort came from Kyle Newman, who nipped at Marengo’s heels while piloting the Newman Car Creations ’55 two-door post, earning runner-up status in the Muscle Machine class both days. Ever wonder what the offspring of a Tri-Five and a C4 Corvette would look like? This is as close as you’ll get to finding out, and another one you’ll see in CHP.

Dannie Pinard put in a full two days on the autocross course in his ’10 Camaro, and was still game to take a crack at the Baer Brake Systems Speed-Stop. All you had to do was go all-out for 600 feet, then bring the works to a halt within a 20x40-foot stop box. Fastest time wins … unless you hit a cone, of course. Sorry Pinard, we know you made several good runs but what can we say? We like shots of cone mayhem!

Based on what we saw, Jon Rasmussen is a skilled autocross pilot behind the wheel of his ’72 Nova, and took Third Place both days in the highly competitive Muscle Machine class, running only a tenth of a second or so behind the leaders. However, we also caught him committing a very rare (for Rasmussen) case of cone-icide, so of course that’s the picture we bring you.

There weren’t very many third-gen F-bodies on hand for the autocross, but Casey Cronin did a top-notch job of representing the species, piloting his ’92 Camaro RS to the lead spot in the Street Machine class on Saturday …

The unofficial “Car I Wished I’d Stopped Working Long Enough to Take a Ride in” award goes to Brian Hobaugh’s ultra-trick ’73 Camaro. Hobaugh ran in the Exhibition Class, clicking off a 34.148-second lap, compared to the class winners’ high 35- and low 36-second runs. I want a rain check, Hobaugh!

Gerald Synegal brought his ’83 El Camino out to do autocross battle, and acquitted himself well, taking home Third Place finishes in Street Machine on both days of the event.

“Hello, Newman.” Sorry, but a surname is all we have for this competitor, who gets our unofficial Perseverance award. Mr. Newman couldn’t answer the bell for the start of the True Street competition, but came out the next day and won the Street Machine class in the autocross. Way to hang in there.

Robert Byrd upheld the fifth-gen Camaro and Chevy honor during the weekend, checking in as fastest Bow Tie behind the wheel of his ’10 Camaro in the Modern Muscle class on both Saturday and Sunday.

In NMCA action, Doug Crumlich and his ’96 Camaro won the Fastest Street Car Open Comp event, throwing down an 8.571 run on an 8.57 index. You can’t get much closer than that, folks.

Most of the action at the Hotchkis Autocross was precise and very controlled. That even includes Rob Phillips and his Hotchkis TVS-equipped ’69 C10, the duo who won the truck class both Saturday and Sunday. Then again, Phillips decided to color just a bit outside the lines on his final run of the weekend, much to the delight of everyone at trackside.

Dick Eytchison was not one of the faster drivers on the autocross course—on the other hand, we dig the four-door action he brought to the field with his ’65 Chevelle, and he did run in the 40-second range, which was faster than a lot of newer entrants with fewer doors.

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